Nectar
by metacognitive
Summary: Bebe comes into herself (it's high school, what else could you expect?). Multiple pairings. Full details inside.


Title: Nectar  
Summary: "You taste sweet." Sexuality is a freight train.  
Character(s): Bebe Stevens, various  
Notes: Het/slash/femslash. I love Bebe with a passion and so I hope no one takes this the wrong away.  
Thanks to Chasing Rabbits for tips on character development!

* * *

_I wouldn't if I were you_  
_I know what she can do, _  
_she's deadly man, and she could really rip your world apart, _  
_mind over matter, _  
_the beauty is there but the beast is in the heart_

_Hall & Oats: Maneater_

* * *

Bebe Stevens loses her virginity freshman year, maybe a month after turning fifteen. She's at some party Red was invited to – Red had a lot of upperclassman friends, due to her having taken several summer classes just after graduating from middle school – and not really having a good time. A couple juniors are catcalling, and one of them even had the gall to try and grope her chest. She elbowed him in the face, but now she's trying to avoid pissing off anyone else, because even if she doesn't expire as easily as Kenny she'd rather not have to deal with a bunch of vengeful sixteen- and seventeen-year olds.

Speaking of Kenny, he's coming straight at her now, and she's trying not to roll her eyes. He's wearing a gray sweatshirt, despite it being April, and his arms are spread wide, crooked grin (and she's not just talking about the shape of his mouth) ever-present. "Bebe!" he exclaims, and she sighs, lets him hug her. He's been serenading her every Friday since the beginning of second semester, and most times she ignores him. Yesterday, however, her father had ordered her to get rid of the ratty young man so she threw one of her spiky heels at him, a Christmas present from Wendy.

The tender bruise beneath his eye is testament to her aim. "How's it goin', beautiful?" he says, and she gives him a half-hearted shove.

"I elbowed Brad Thomson in the eye," she informs Kenny, voice monotone, and his eyes go big.

"Holy Hell," he says, "guy in the striped shirt right? What for?" Bebe shrugs.

"Tried copping a feel." Kenny lets out a low whistle.

"Damn. Would I get the same treatment?"

She shoves him harder this time, ignoring his hyena cackles and making her way into the kitchen. No doubt Kenny's only there because of some ploy his stupid group is trying to play out. She had a soft spot for Kyle throughout middle school, even managing a kiss at some random birthday party in seventh grade (her first kiss, actually), and while she still half-wishes they were friends she just doesn't really have the time for soft spots for anyone anymore.

Red is in the kitchen with a couple seniors, one tall brunette girl draping an arm over her shoulders, laughing at something or other. Red doesn't notice Bebe at first, giving the blonde girl a chance to check herself in the reflection from the toaster oven. She's wearing a natural eye look, brown eyed like always, but she opted for red lipstick, hoping to make it stand out against the white v-neck she's sporting. It's not a classy party – how could it be, it's high school – and she's wearing her hair loose, tight curls and waves free, along with torn jeans and brown boots, North Face jacket somewhere in the living room. She feels good.

Red catches sight of her then, exclaims, "Bebe!" before drawing the girl over to them. She introduces her senior friends to her, and Bebe nods and smiles at all the right places before they go back to discussing whatever new camera feature they were supposed to use in their art class or whatever. That's really more Red's forte, considering she even takes extra classes up in Middle Park on the weekends. Bebe never realized how tired she was of small town life until she got to Middle Park and found nearly the same thing there, save for maybe a couple thousand extra people. Middle Park is more of a suburb, rather than the little town that is South Park, but even then it's boring and Bebe is so done with everything high school (and drama) related.

All she really wants to do is go home and curl up with a good documentary and some rose tea but here she is, eleven 'o'clock on a Friday night and stuck at some senior's party, feeling as out of place as ever. After a good ten minutes of standing at Red's arm, pretending to be interested in their digital discussion, she manages to extract herself from the girl's grip, feigning a need to get some fresh air.

She steps out onto the back porch, takes a deep breath, and then realizes she's not alone. It smells like mints and coffee, and when she takes a closer look she realizes it's Tweek Tweak, hair as messy as ever, sitting on the steps and staring out at the yard.

"Tweek?" she says, and he nearly jumps.

"B-Bebe? Oh, hey," he says, calming down once he realizes it's her. She sits down next to him, wincing at the creaking wood beneath her. He casts her a glance.

"No fun, huh?"

She give a toothless smile, says, "Something like that. Did you come with Craig and them?" and he nods. "Clyde wanted to uh, find some sophomore girl he's gonna ask out."

Bebe snorts, covers her mouth. Tweek grins at her, and she lets her hand return to her lap. "Um, sorry," she says, face feeling heated, "it's just. That's so Clyde." Tweek bobs his head, says, "That's what I said."

"Feel like getting out of here?" she says next, after a few minutes in silence, and he tenses.

"All the time."

Bebe turns to him then, confused but with a smidge of hope glowing within her. "I meant um, the party. Like, right now. But I know what you mean."

He's facing her now, too, with a pink glow over his cheeks. He bites his mouth, and Bebe realizes he's got some freckles. "Oh, uh. Sorry."

Bebe, for whatever reason, reaches out to him, puts a hand on his shoulder; "I get it. I really, really do."

Tweek looks down at their legs for a moment, then to her hand on his shoulder. He smiles a bit, that pink glow fading – and it disappoints Bebe, she realizes, seeing that completely open expression disappear. Feeling a rush of affection and courage she didn't realize she had in her, she lets her hand slip down his arm and takes his hand in hers. When she glances back up at Tweek she sees surprise but no sign of displeasure, and he squeezes her hand as he begins to talk.

"It's just so ri_dic_ulous here, man, I don't know how any of our parents can _stand_ it," he says, biting his lips again. She tries not to show how transfixed she is.

"I don't think they notice," she says slowly, but he follows with a, "I don't think it _matters_ to them anymore."

She cocks her head at him, urging him to continue. He seems to mull it over, shifting uncomfortably as he moves his shoulders. His voice takes on that tint of stuttering, like he's trying to get as many words out as possible.

"They've n-never paid attention to things – not even as _kids_, remember? Do you r-remember that school gossip thing? We got out of school, like, like it was nothing! The craziest sh-shit used to happen and no one _e_ver cared."

Bebe soaked this in before she said, "Kenny used to claim he couldn't die." Tweek hesitates here, grinds his teeth together. Bebe realizes she's going to have an oral fixation by the end of the night.

"I don't know if I believe him," he says slowly, "but I feel obligated to, just because I don't think anyone else in this damn town does."

"I. Yeah," and Bebe laughs, "yeah, that's as a good a reason as any to believe something like that." Tweek smiles back at her, and then glances towards the door, where the music has just begun to make the frame vibrate.

"So, uh," he says, and all of Bebe's focus is on him again, pink and wide-eyed, crooked smile and all (and this time, she's not talking about his teeth). "You still wanna leave?"

She smiles, pulling Tweek up with her when she stands, "Yeah. Let's get outta here."

They leave then, not even bothering to see if anyone is looking for them, instead stumbling together across the yard and onto someone else's front yard. They're smiling at each other, still holding hands as they laugh against each other's shoulders. It's when they're in front of the Tenorman residence when she stops, still caught up in a joke over the juniors' desperate attempt to out-prank the graduating class, and looks up at Tweek, red from laughter. He's a few inches shy of six feet, but she's done growing at five-five so it doesn't mean much to her.

Then again, it kind of does, because she has to go on her tip-toes and then still yank him down by the collar to press her full mouth against his. She'll give him credit – he doesn't jerk back the way she half-expected to, instead wrapping his long arms around her waist and pressing her body flush against his. Bebe's not entirely sure what she's doing when their mouths move together, just that she likes the full-on tremble that goes through Tweek when she presses her tongue to the roof of his mouth.

That's when their movements become a bit more frantic, even if Bebe can never figure out why, in the midst of all this when she feels Tweek's hand – the one _not_ tugging on her hair in a way she thinks is heavenly – creeping up her shirt, she doesn't push it away. She doesn't even know why she doesn't just push it up, instead of down, towards her jeans, and then proceeds to grind her hips against Tweek's.

But _man_, is that a good idea.

It's there, on Scott Tenorman's lawn at nearly midnight on a Friday night, that she loses her virginity to Tweek Tweak.

It's messy and awkward, with little giggles here and there until she really feels him, and after that it's just kind of painful, with little flashes of pleasure that don't last nearly as long as she wants them to. Neither have a condom on them, and years later Bebe will note that she was lucky not to have gotten pregnant that night. They're quiet and awkward afterwards, but Tweek holds her hand all the way home, even though his house is closer than hers. He kisses her goodnight, and when she stops squeezing her eyes shut she sees he looks just as uncomfortable as she does.

"Goodnight," she says, and he says, "Ngh—you too," before turning and walking back towards his house.

(They try dating for a while, not that it lasts longer than July. But she does get him to come over the weekend after the party, when her parents have gone grocery shopping or something, and rides him until he goes tense and lets out a sharp cry before making him eat her out for another half hour, fed up with missing out on her own orgasm.

She's not even jealous when he starts dating Lizzy junior year, only tells Wendy with a smirk that she knows they'll end up married within the next few years.)

* * *

It's around Halloween that Craig starts giving her the eye.

Normally, she'd brush him off as yet another guy just trying to get into her pants, but last she heard he was dating Heidi. And that had been during lunch the day before when Heidi was talking about their two-month. On Halloween she finally corners him, in an oversized orange sweater that Kenny had immediately called dibs on, should she ever decide she was sick of it, and black pants. Wendy had convinced her to dress festively and she planned to make her pay for it later. Her hair is down like always, and no makeup besides some pink-tinted lip gloss.

"What crawled up your ass and died, Tucker?" she asks hip cocked with one hand perched there, nails decorated with pumpkins courtesy of her ridiculous best friend Wendy. Craig scowls at her, trying to move around, but she's got him in the corner of the gym, the last period of the day let out and all sports still practicing outside, with the exception of the girls' swim team, which is of course in the pool.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he says, voice as monotonous as ever, and still with that hint of nasal in it, like he's got a permanent cold. She huffs, tosses her head back when her hair falls into her face.

"Don't bullshit me," she warns, "you've been looking at me like I killed your gerbil all week."

"…Guinea pig."

"What?" she stares. He shifts, shrugging.

"I like guinea pigs. Not gerbils."

Oh what the _fuck_. Bebe throws her hands in the air, unimpressed. "Whatever! I just want to know what you want from me."

He squints at her. "I don't want anything from you." The two of them stay looking at each other for what feels like another ten minutes, before he says, as if he's trying to sound nonchalant and failing at it (not that Bebe can really tell, she just has a hunch), "Is it true that you and Tweek had sex on Scott Tenorman's lawn?"

A cold shiver goes up Bebe's spine. She'd only told Wendy about how she and Tweek got together, and Wendy had been skeptical at best. "Doesn't this mean you two are just in it for the sex?" she'd asked. Of course, this was the weekend after the amazing head from the boy, so Bebe didn't get a chance to tell her about that specific roll in the hay.

"No," she'd said instead, "the sex was kind of an accident. We have a lot in common, actually."

Wendy had just nodded before trying to get Bebe to help her save the penguins or something. Bebe didn't worry about anything but school, so she just went along with it before putting her foot down at not shaving for the "Summer of Solidarity" or whatever it was that Wendy was interested it.

That said, Bebe still isn't sure what to make of what Craig had just told her. While she hadn't expected Tweek to stay completely quiet about it, she doesn't want him to be telling every male in between South Park and Denver. She must look like a fish, mouth gaping and eyes unblinking, and Craig saves her with, "I had to practically beat it out of him, don't worry."

Her mouth snaps shut; "Why does it matter?"

He shrugs, eyes unreadable. "It doesn't."

She gets flustered then, angry at him for having brought up something that doesn't really matter anymore – at least not on a romantic level. "Well what, are you jealous of him or something?"

"No!" he says back, some emotion actually present when he denies her.

"Then what –" but Bebe sees it in his face, his dark eyes. He's lying. Maybe she's wrong about him being jealous of Tweek, but there's something in the tightening of his jaw when he looks her over that makes her say, "Are you jealous of _me?_"

She's not sure how it happens, but once she says that Craig seems to lose it, and she finds herself pressed against the same wall Craig had just had his back to, panting and clutching at it as Craig manages what Tweek couldn't without practice, clenching her teeth as Craig finishes up a few minutes after she does. He at least has the common sense to put on a condom, and he barely looks at her after he ties it off and throws it out. She stands awkwardly between he and the wall before announcing, "Please don't tell me you're still going to date Heidi after this."

He looks up at her, surprised. Then he says, a bit embarrassed too, "I was gonna break up with her this week."

"Huh," Bebe says, and then zips up her pants, which, _awkward_, were still open, "okay. I'm. I'm going to leave now." And then nearly runs out of the gym.

That is the last time she speaks to Craig Tucker for a _long_ time.

(The whole ordeal is also why, years later, she laughs when she finds out Evangeline Tucker and Tim Tweek are getting married, having been together for two years already. "Serves Craig right," she will tell her eleven-year old son, who will just roll his eyes and tell her she needs to get over petty high school disagreements.

"Oh just you wait baby," she will tell him before going off to find her husband, cackling all the while.)

* * *

At the end of junior year, once all test sessions are done and the seniors have graduated, Token Black throws a party for everyone. His parents gave him the okay, having gone to visit family for the weekend, and he's got most of the juniors from the shared school in Middle Park there. It's lively, better than most parties Bebe's been to, but even at seventeen Bebe feels better suited for a night watching Big Bang Theory.

She's a nerd and she loves it.

Tonight her contacts are bothering her, and she really just wants to go home, maybe have Wendy sleep over, so they can make fun of all the skinny girls on TV and scrub off the bat guano that is their makeup. Bebe ended up curvy – size six pants and C-cups, which are a pain when she actually attempts to participate in gym class. And while she's soft, she's still got a small enough waistline to deal with Kenny's sleazy pick-up lines.

Then again, she's seen him get awfully cozy with Butters lately, and she'll have to check up on that. Nobody's allowed near that boy unless _she_ has okayed it.

Wendy, meanwhile, has shot up thin and slender, five-seven and with sleek dark hair. Her eyes are huge, and Bebe will never be able to wrap her head around her perfect features, she's sure of it. She and Token have had a thing all year, but when Bebe and Red asked what was going on she brushed them off, saying something about being too busy for a romance. She hadn't dated anyone since Kevin Stoley the summer between freshman and sophomore year, but she seemed content so Bebe wasn't going to push anything.

Stoley sure had gotten cute, though.

But, just like any other party, there's a game of Seven Minutes and Bebe gets sucked into it. She sees Kenny pull Butters away from the ruckus, his arm around the other's shoulder, and makes a mental note to stop by Butters' the next day, and then she hears Red start laughing. Her head snaps back to the group of people to realize with dismay that she's just been picked.

"Goddamn it," she says, which only makes Red laugh harder.

"Nuh uh," she tells the group, "you just got stuck with _me_."

Someone, Clyde no doubt, lets out a whistle, and she just flips the crowd off. Kyle's standing there, sans Stan, who recently started splitting his time between Cartman and Co. and the Goth scene again, and he gives Bebe a gentle shoulder bump. She grins at him, using him to propel herself towards Red, who just wraps her arms around her waist – to everyone's joy.

"Seven minutes," Token says, smiling at the two girls, and Red just waves him off, "I got this!"

She walks in after Bebe, who scoffs when she sees Red raise her arms like she's actually going to get lucky. The door to the closet closes, the darkness engulfing them for a moment before Red flicks the light on, grinning lecherously at Bebe.

"Ready for this, Beebs?" she says, and Bebe's eyebrows shoot up. She crosses her arms over the pink tank-top she's wearing.

"Are you serious?"

Red shrugs, green shirt riding up to expose a bit of navel that Bebe finds herself eying before she can stop herself. Red smirks. "Why not?"

When the two of them nearly fall on their way out of the closet, they're met with even more catcalls than before and Token's surprised expression. "I see that went well," he says, and Bebe just rolls her eyes, flouncing off as Red latches onto Kyle, laughing with her red red mouth.

Bebe finds Wendy a little later, by herself in Token's dining room. "Hey," she says, taking a seat next to the brunette girl, reaching out to shake her shoulder a bit. She looks up at her, giving a smile, eyes listless. Bebe immediately moves her chair closer, wrapping an arm around her friend. "You okay?" Wendy shakes her head, as if waking up, and then moves to pull away from her. Bebe won't have it.

"No, yes, I'm fine. A little tired."

Bebe hums. "Let's get out of here then. Slumber party at my place?" and she smiles, like they're nine again and used to spending every weekend together. Wendy returns the smile, though hers is closer to just a simple flash of teeth, and within a few minutes they're driving to Bebe's in her dad's car.

They settle together easily on Bebe's bed – it's not even eleven yet, so Bebe plays _2012_ for the two of them to watch.

"This movie is so inaccurate," Wendy bemoans, and Bebe swats at her.

"At least it's bringing attention to the _importance_ of _global preservation_."

Wendy grins, real this time, when Bebe says this, and decides to up the ante by starting a pillow fight.

How stereotypical, really, that it's in the middle of that when she decides to move, holding Bebe's face in her hands like she's delicate and kissing her.

Kissing Wendy is not like kissing Kyle, or Tweek, or Red. Craig hadn't even kissed her when they had sex sophomore year, or else she'd be comparing him too. Kyle had just been a quick peck during Spin the Bottle, a brief press of lips that had, Bebe remembers, made her heart race either way. Anything Tweek related just makes her think of sex, and Red had kissed her hungrily but with an underlying sense of fun, like going to Pi Pi's for the day when they were kids.

Wendy, though, is kissing her like she really matters, lips firm and secure as they press to Bebe's. While she's not entirely sure what they're doing, Bebe decides to go for it, slipping Wendy some tongue. That has the opposite effect, however, and Wendy pulls back, bright red.

"I," she says, and then she climbs off the bed, stands at the foot of it. Bebe's still splayed out, feet near the headboard and her laptop about to slip off the bed. She blinks, mouth shiny for her failed attempts, and says, "Um," as Wendy plucks up the laptop, shoving it at Bebe.

"Maybe I should go," Wendy says hurriedly, but Bebe rolls her eyes, rubs at her forehead.

"What? No, just," and she lets out a frustrated sigh. She sits up. "What was that, Wendy?"

Wendy bites her lip and Bebe tries not to curse. Tweek has ruined her. "I don't know," she says, "I just saw you and Red do Seven Minutes and. Wanted to see?" She sounds unsure herself, so if she expects Bebe to know what's going on she's got another thing coming. "I don't know."

Bebe is unimpressed. "Okay," she says, "I guess that's cool? Um. Okay."

Wendy starts blushing again, not that it had ever really faded in the first place, and bursts out, a slew of unhampered words, "It's just been so long you know I miss it and I feel like I can't ever relax and you are just such great friend I can't imagine and just well. Was that—?"

_What is your life_, Bebe thinks to herself, and then doesn't even pause to think over the next words she says, just says them: "You taste sweet."

Wendy stares at her; Bebe lays down again, pats her bed. "Let's finish the movie."

(They hold hands the rest of the night, and the last year of their high school career passes like normal.)

* * *

Senior year does little for her. Bebe goes out on a few dates with Timmy because she needs someone smart and funny but all too soon she realizes it's not going to work out. Red and Kyle began seeing each other in September, and by Christmas it's obvious to everyone that Wendy and Token are going to either kill someone or bang by the time it's time to go off to college. Bebe gets into Northwestern but funds are tight – she settles on Colorado State instead, joining Stan there.

He calls her "Buddy," which unfortunately makes her feel like a twelve year old girl being told "I love you," by Justin Bieber. Stan's just too sweet.

She sees Kenny's sister in the halls all the time now, and she seems a bit star-struck whenever Bebe says hello. She's a cutie, dark hair and these very light, very pretty blue eyes. She mentions this to Butters who just laughs, warns, "You better not ah-try anything, Bebe, Kenny'll have your head."

She pouts, then proceeds to shower Butters with kisses until Kenny shows up, looking entirely unmoved by the exchange. She blows a raspberry at him. "My best friend first," she reminds him, and he snorts.

"You have Wendy," he reminds her, but she just wraps her arms around Butters. Him being taller than her will always throw her off.

What Kenny always forgets however, is that she's also got Eric Cartman. The two of them had started talking a few weeks after the Wendy-incident, having run into each other at the grocery store. She had been scowling at the chicken patties, trying to figure out which brand would taste better when the brunet had seen her and proceeded to make a joke about being a ho.

Bebe being Bebe, of course, punched him in the eye before asking which brand he preferred. He pointed out the more expensive one from his place at her feet, and then she had gone to the checkout.

It was a beautiful thing, really.

Since then however he'd actually began talking to her, usually about whatever major movement was the flavor of the week. Today it was stem cell research.

"I mean, it works," he says. The two of them were sitting in Cartman's car, unwrapping wraps from Wendy's. He's slimmed out quite a bit, but there was still that note of huskiness around his figure. He was in fact big-boned, but it worked out for him, being a key player of the high school's football defense. Bebe had thrown herself into schoolwork and several key clubs, while Wendy's place on the girls' swim team was balanced with her place as class president. Cartman was vice president, a fact he never stopped bitching about.

"I know it works," Bebe says, taking a bite of her chicken wrap, "but it doesn't change the fact that, in theory, what they're made out of could be a child. If used correctly.

Cartman stares at her with his mouth open, and she makes a face. "Bitch," he says, "do not tell me you are one of those pro-life assholes." Bebe scoffs. Like that would ever happen.

"No way," she says, "but I can see where they're coming from. They're using zygotes that, for whatever reason, weren't implanted into a surrogate or whatever. In their eyes, by not letting them actually be used, by not giving that baby a chance to _exist_, it's murder. Creating a new liver or whichever specific _thing_ the person needs is worse than just letting the zygote sit there frozen for eternity."

"It could save people," Cartman reminds her.

"Duh. I'm not arguing that. But religion, Cartman," she takes a slurp of her Dr. Pepper, careful not to spill it on her blue twinset, "they're all cults."

Cartman laughs, stuffs a few fries into his mouth before agreeing, "For sure."

Then he says, "You should start speaking like an intellectual instead of complacent moron more often," which of course, is just another thing that makes him Cartman. He doesn't even complain when she digs her knuckle into his bicep.

It's because of this strange friendship that he takes her to prom at the end of the year – her, dressed up in red with her eyes painted smoky by her mother. Cartman even brings her a corsage, lets her mother take all the goofy pictures she wants, but all he gets at the end of the night is Bebe crying about how she isn't going to Chicago.

It starts off nicely enough, in a nice rented space up in Middle Park. Wendy, Token, Kyle and Red had all met up beforehand to have dinner together, but Bebe and Cartman decided to just show up – it's not like either really cared for the social aspects of school, despite their own place or connections.

Bebe's actually a bit surprised at Cartman. He's wearing a sleek, dark brown suit, the red tones of his dress shirt and tucked handkerchief matching with hers nearly perfectly. She bumps his shoulder as they walk into the hall, grinning. "You look nice," she tells him, but he just scoffs. He does, however, brush off invisible lint from his suit, looking smug.

"You look less whorish than the rest," he answers, and she rolls her eyes, linking her arm with his. If that's the closest to a compliment she'll get, well, she supposes she could do worse. In theory.

She scopes out the place quickly, looking for Wendy and spotting her and Token at a table near the dance floor. Cartman complains the whole way, saying, "She's the worst, you know, as bad as all the other hos combined," not that Bebe really cares.

"Hey Wendy," she chirps, and Wendy lights up. She's wearing a long blue dress, dark, with silver jewelry and a light colored flower at her wrist. Token is dressed just as officially, in a lustrous gray suit, the dreadlocks he grew out the summer before tied back. They're a good-looking couple, Bebe observes, smiling. She hugs each of them, ignoring the way that Cartman merely nods.

"You look beautiful," Wendy tells her, and she throws her head back, laughs, "You too."

The night, for the most part, is fun. Kenny drags her out to dance with him, Cartman looking furious and Butters amused. He spins her around, doing the obligatory dramatic dip despite her screeches. As the music changes, slowing down, he asks her, "You havin' fun?"

She beams, "Surprisingly." He makes a face at her and she just giggles, too wrapped up in seeing all her friends together, getting along for once.

It's towards the end of the dance where it begins to take a bad turn. In retrospect, there's no real reason to cry. Be proud, sure, but then Bebe's hormones never were her friends. She and Eric, along with Kyle, Red, Stan (who showed up halfway through, dateless and looking torn), Clyde, and Heidi sit together just before the final slow dance was going to play.

"Where are you going, Clyde?" Kyle asks, and Clyde grins, wry.

"CSU," he answers, and Bebe barks out a laugh, leaning over to give him a high-five.

"You can be me and Stan's buddy," she tells him and he smiles, more genuine this time.

"Sounds good."

Stan pipes up for the first time all night, says to Heidi, "Where are you headed?"

"Art Institute of California-San Francisco," Red answers for her, sharing a huge grin with Heidi, "with me!"

"Graphic design, right?" Kyle says to Heidi, his arm around the back of Red's chair, and she nods. Red gives Kyle a mischievous look, poking him with her elbow, "What, are you shy now? Why don't you share where you're going?"

Kyle turns pink, says, "Ah, they've probably heard by now."

Bebe peaks at him, from where he's sitting next to Cartman. Whatever either of them say, they are too decent friends. "I haven't," she says, and he huffs, making Stan laugh.

"Go on," he goads, and Kyle relents, says, "Cornell," and Bebe's eyebrows shoot up. Before she can say anything though, he says, "But I thought you were going to Northwestern," and she goes quiet for a moment.

"It didn't work out," she says simply, "but I would have loved to go." Cartman rubs her shoulder then, and she relaxes into the touch. She had gotten so close, and in the end it hadn't been enough for her. Northwestern would just have to be forgotton. Then he says, "I'm heading to UNR."

"Money?" Red says gently, and Bebe feels stung for him. _Why is that the assumption?_ He shrugs.

"I want to stay close," and then everyone is quiet again, Bebe playing with her fingers in her lap, up until they play "At Last," and then everyone is swaying together on the dance floor. She sees Lizzy, wrapped up in Tweek's arms, and smiles, small.

Cartman, too, holds her tenderly, and she leans her head against his shoulder, feeling overwhelmed. She can feel her eyes sting, and stubbornly tells herself she needs to keep it together for just a bit longer, until she gets home.

She barely makes it to the car.

It catches Cartman off-guard when she breaks down a few minutes after leaving the hotel where prom was held, and he awkwardly reaches out to her until she jerks away from him, covering her face with her hands. "Whoa," he says, and pulls over a few minutes later when she shows no sign of stopping. He pulls her to him, and she tucks her head against his shoulder.

"Ey, ho," he says after a little while, and she just cries harder, ruining his shirt. He had enough sense to discard his jacket when he saw the waterworks start up. "I don't get why you're crying. You were fine like, ten minutes ago."

"I just," she cries, looking like a drunken raccoon (at least to Cartman), "th-this is the last time we'll e-e-ever all be together like that, y-you know? A-and God I'm going to be stuck in Colorado for_ever_."

Cartman, like many times before this and many times after, doesn't know what to say. Instead he asks, "Did Kenny and Butters go as each other's dates?"

Bebe doesn't respond, and when he drops her off he warns her that if he gets any angry calls from her father, the man will be turned into chili. That makes Bebe smile, but even so she sniffles as she walks inside.

Graduation passes by in a blur, Bebe barely able to focus on anything to really grasp what's going to happen over the summer. She nearly falls of the earth, exchanging texts with Cartman in place of the time they spent together during their free periods. June is a long, heavy month. It's too soon, everything about her impending leave and the stress of it all pressing down on her.

It's a surprise, then, that on the Fourth of July Bebe gets a call as she's washing up her plates from breakfast.

"Hello?" she says, holding the phone between her shoulder and ear as she finishes scrubbing the last of the maple syrup from the festive star-studded plates. She's wearing a romper, striped blue and white, her curls tied up into a high bun, and converse.

Bebe Stevens is a boss, okay, despite the whole crying sesh two months before.

"Ey," she hears Cartman, and smiles. Leave his insults to make her feel like a princess, "whatchu doing today, ho?"

"Fireworks, asshat," she shoots back, and he asks, "But before that."

"Before that?" she repeats, and she raises a hand to her mouth, thinking while she shifts the phone out from between her jaw and shoulder, where it's slipped. "Hm. Nothing I don't think, maybe see Red or Wendy?"

She hears Cartman scoff a bit, "Please. Red is probably out with that Jew-rat Kahl." Bebe stifles a giggle at the pronunciation, says, "Then what should I do today?"

He waits a second too long before he answers, says, "Come see me," so she does, snatches her dad's keys off the hook before driving off to Liane Cartman's home.

Like he said, they spend the day together, Bebe periodically sending text messages to Wendy when she asks her what's up. Wendy, even now, doesn't get along with Cartman, but they're far more civil to each other now that Bebe's friends with him and Wendy stopped seeing Stan. Bebe and Kyle are half-convinced it's sexual tension, but the thought grosses them out, the latter because he and Cartman are still allegedly enemies, and the former because, well. It was just Cartman; he wouldn't do that to her.

It's that final thought that catches Bebe off-guard as she and Cartman sit together watching the fireworks that night, as does that feeling of rightness that comes when he kisses her during the final spray of light above them. She closes her eyes, thinks of Cartman, and Wendy, and Red, and Craig, and Tweek, about Butters and Kenny, and Lizzy being with the man of her dreams, of how happy Kyle is now, and Stan being her buddy.

She wants to scream, "What makes you want me?" wants to understand the person she is today.

But mostly, she thinks that this is the first person she's really loved enough to have like this.

(And yes, he cries the first time they make love – not have sex, because Bebe's been there, done that, and it's not anything like being held by Cartman, who will never be Eric because teasing him is too much fun – but she just kisses away the tears. No one believes them when they change their Facebook status but Liane is sweet to her when she stops by, and Wendy just shakes her head in disbelief, even after they're both engaged.

It never gets old, really, that sense of belonging she has with Cartman, and she hopes it never goes away – hopes that somehow, that awkward start to her "sexual awakening" as Wendy calls it, which it totally _wasn't_, is exactly what she deserves for how good she has it as Mrs. Eric Cartman.)

* * *

a/n: lol at making out with your best friends. That's totally normal behavior okay. Also "Teenage Dream" started playing as I wrote that scene which made me sooo happy. "Kid in the striped shirt" is an actual character, I just made up his name. Ha.  
This was a result of me wanting less easy!Bebe and while she has several sexual and nonsexual partners, I hope that was conveyed. Somewhat, somehow? I also want everyone to love her the way I do. /normal  
Reviews are lovely, as are recs or any other comments :)


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